MRI on knee for Charlotte Hornets guard Nic Batum shows no additional damage

It looks like Charlotte Hornets shooting guard Nic Batum made out well Thursday, considering the potential seriousness of his right knee injury Wednesday.

An MRI taken in San Antonio, Tex., showed only the hyper-extension previously diagnosed. The MRI showed no additional structural damage, after Batum suffered the injury in the third quarter of the Hornets’ road loss to the Detroit Pistons.

Batum will miss Saturday’s road game agasint the San Antonio Spurs, but the team intends to list him as day-to-day beyond that game. So it’s possible Batum could return to action before the end of the current five-game road trip, which started Wednesday.

Saturday will be the second game Batum misses this season. He sat out a home victory over the New York Knicks on Nov. 26, due to a corneal abrasion.

The Hornets could get back center Cody Zeller from the concussion protocol for Saturday’s game. Zeller has missed the past three games while going through the NBA’s concussion protocol, after being struck in the head in a home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Hornets are listing Zeller as questionable versus the Spurs.

In one other personnel move, the Hornets are re-assigning forward Christian Wood to their Development League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 8:05 PM with the headline "MRI on knee for Charlotte Hornets guard Nic Batum shows no additional damage."